Taiwan-based IC design houses ASMedia Technology, a subsidiary of Asustek Computer; VIA Labs, a subsidiary of VIA Technologies; and Etron Technology as well as the US-based Fresco Logic originally planned to offer USB 3.0 chips for use in motherboards by the end of 2010, but the companies may fail to meet the expected schedule because they have not yet passed USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) certification, according to Taiwan-based motherboard makers.

The technical difficulty for the USB 3.0 chips in terms of hardware, plus the fact chip designers are required to design their own USB 3.0 software because Windows 7 does not natively support the technology has caused the design houses to delay their mass shipment schedule. This comes despite the fact the chip designers have already sent samples to motherboard makers for testing, as these chips still have several bugs that need to be resolved.

for USB 3.0 to become widespread we need big companies like Intel to deliver native chips to OEMs like Dell and HP to lower prices, increase adoption rate and make buying an external USB 3.0 to be used between PCs (many of them not yours) a reality.